A Godly Response to Charlie Kirk’s Death - The Elephant in the Room

Hey, good morning and welcome to Real Life Church.

Go ahead and see into your feet whether you're with us in person

or you're joining us online today.

We're so glad that you were here with us today.

We're going to praise him. We're going to worship him big

together this morning. As you are here, you're moving

in armies. I worship you, I worship you.

As you are here, you're working into this place.

I worship you. I worship you.

You are here moving in on next. I worship you.

I worship you as you are here working into this place.

I worship you. I worship you.

The promise. Keep.

Light in the darkness my God that is to you are they made

very cool. Promise.

Keep light in the darkness, my God, that is to you is you are

here touching every heart. I worship you.

I worship you that you are here healing every heart.

I worship you, Oh I worship you. You are here and turn lives

around. I worship you.

I worship you. As you are here.

You're made in. Every heart I worship you, God,

I worship. You.

Way make miracle work. Promise.

Keep light in the darkness, my God.

That is who you are. Waymaker, Miracle world,

promise. Keep light in the darkness, my

God. That is who you are.

That is who you are. That is who you are.

That is who you are. That is who you are.

That is who you are. That is who you are.

That is who you are. That is who you are.

It's who you are. It's who you are.

Even when I don't see that you're working.

Even when I don't feel that you're working.

You never stop, never stop working.

You never stop. You never stop working.

Even when I'm see that you're working.

Even when I don't feel that you're working.

You never stop. You never stop working.

Never stop. You never stop working.

Even when I don't see you working.

Even when I don't feel you working.

You never stop. You never stop working.

Never stop. You never stop working.

Even when I don't. See.

You working even when I don't feel you working.

You never stop. Never stop working.

Never stop. You never stop.

Stop working. Waymaker, Miracle Worker,

promise keeper, light in the darkness.

My God, that is who you are. Waymaker miracle worker, Promise

keeper, light in the darkness. My God, that is who you are.

Waymaker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the

darkness. My God, that is who you are.

Waymaker, miracle worker, promise, keeper, light in the

darkness. My God, that is who you are.

That is who you are. That that is who you are.

That is who you are. That is who you are.

That is who you are. That is who you are, That is who

you are, that is who you are. Amen.

Give him a shout of praise this morning, our God.

Is such a good. God, and it's really true that.

Sometimes we get the joy to look back and see what God has done

when in the midst of a hard time, it's hard to know and see

what He's doing. But He's so good and He loves us

so much, so let's worship Him as you.

Give life you are love. You bring light to the darkness,

You give home, You restore every heart that is broken.

Where are you, Lord? It's your brain in our lives, So

we pour round our praise. We pour round our praise.

It's your breath in our lives, So we pour round our praise.

You only. 'Cause you give light, you are

love, you bring light to the darkness, you give hope, you

restore every. Heart.

That is broken. Strain on you Lord, and it's

your rap in our lungs. So we bore out our praise.

We. Bore out our praise.

It's your rap. In our lives so we born our

praise You only. Your breath.

In our lives so we born our praise, we born our praise is

your breath. In our lives.

So we born our praise in you only.

You know, praise is the only thing that God can't give

Himself, and so the whole point of His song is that He put

breath in our lungs and we get to give it back to Him.

So let's shout it out today. The earth will shout your

praise, our hearts will cry, These bones will sing great.

All the earth will. Shout your praise, our hearts

will cry. These bones will sink great on

you. All the earth will shout your

praise. Our hearts will cry, These bones

will sail. Great are you alone in our

lives. So we borne our praise, put our

praise in your brain, in our eyes, so we.

Burn our praise you only. Your brain in our lives so.

We born our praise. We born our praise.

In your brain, in our lives. So we born our praise.

The. I love you, Lord.

Oh, your mercy never fears me. In all my days I've been held in

your head. From a moment that awaken till I

lay my head, I will see of the goodness of God.

So my life, you haven't played, Oh my life, if you have been so,

so cold, every breath that I am able, I will see the coldness of

life. And I love your voice.

You have bled. Me through the fire.

Enjoy yourself. You were close like no other.

I've known you as a father. I've known you as a friend I

have to commit to. God for my life you have been

paid all my life You have been so so good.

Every breath that I am able, I was.

The goodness of life. Sure, coolness is running off.

It's running off to me. Sure, goodness is running off.

It's running off to me. With my life laid down.

I'm sure, Angel, now I gave you everything.

Sure, goodness is running off to.

It's running off to me. Your goodness is running out.

It's running out to me. Your goodness is running out.

It's running out to me. With my life laid down and

surrender now. I gave you everything.

Your goodness is running out. It's running out.

All my. Life you have been faithful.

Thank you Jesus all my. Life, you have been so, so good.

Every prayer. That I.

Am able, I'm going to say, of the goodness of God.

Yes, I'm sort of shame. So my life, you have everything

in my life, you have been so, so good with every breath that I am

able. I'm going to say of the goodness

of God. Yes, I'm going to say the

goodness of God. Man Amen.

Amen. Man can.

We give it up for God and who's so thankful for the goodness of

God today, man. And that goodness of God shows

up day in, day out. No matter what season of life

you're in, man. God always arrives on time.

He's never late and he's never early.

So man, I love it. Love, love and hear you guys

worship. I don't know if you guys know

this, but we have a ton of new people with us that are in

person and online. Can we show those guys some

love? Give them a round of applause.

Amen. Hey, what?

You guys take 30 seconds to greet somebody around you.

All right. Right, You guys could go ahead

and be seated. Hey, wanna let you guys know

something on your chair? There's something awesome called

a connection card. And that connection card is for

everybody in this house. If you call real life home, we

love it when you grab that card. Fill that out, let us know

what's going on in your life. Maybe it's a praise, maybe it's

a prayer request. We love knowing and stay

connected to what you guys have. And if you fill that out, we

have leaders that pray over these cards week in and week

out. We just want to stay connected

and help you guys in any way that we can.

If you are new or newer to real life, this card is for you as

well. And I'm going to make you this

promise. If that's you in the house

today, you're new or newer. I'm not going to ask and

nobody's going to ask anything else from you today but this one

simple thing. We would love for you to

introduce yourself to us and that connection card is the

easiest and best way to do it. And when you fill that out,

we're not going to do anything weird.

We just want to be able to have a way to send you out some

information this week about real life, let you know a little bit

about more about who we are and maybe how you can get connected

here and and live on mission with us.

And that's what we like to say here at real life.

We are a church on a mission and that mission is this is to see

people far from God discover their real life and their

purpose in Jesus. And what that all that means is

this it's our tagline. But what we know is, is that

when you live in this world and you do the day in, day out

grind, you get beat up, you get beat down, sometimes you get

thrown away. When you walk away from that

situation, you feel useless. You don't feel like you're here

for any reason. But that's a lie from the enemy.

Because the truth is, guys got something so big and so

important that he wants you to know that it's a purpose and a

mission to be on with him. And that's what we exist for is

to get people connected. So we will love it if you were

on mission with us. One of the ways that we go on

mission together as people outside of these four walls

because we say that real life, it's on Sunday and this is this

gathering, but we gather throughout the weeks and

something called live groups and have you guys enjoyed?

We're getting kick off the second week of live groups.

Have you guys love live groups so far?

And it's been so cool. We are, we just, we kicked off

our life group. So I'm going to, I've got the

mic, so I'm going to brag on our Group A little bit.

So we got to hang out and it's cool because some of my groups

have been kind of some regulars, but this group has been a lot of

new people that have never been in the same room outside of

these four walls together. And So what they've got to do is

already within the first week is they've gotten to know some new

names, some new faces, learn some new stories.

And that's the goal of every life group, is to have a group

of people that can support each. Each other and so if you ever

found your live group there's a board out there we would love to

have you it is not too late this isn't a once you jump in you you

can't get it in or if you have it so we have room for you at a

live group and there's a there's a group that will meet your

needs as far as time and space and just location.

So we'd love to have you want it this week.

So we are in the middle of our series called Elephant in the

Room and an elephant in the room is the question that.

Maybe you think? You're the only person thinking

about but you're scared to ask. But everybody sees it.

And honestly, I guarantee that if you've got a question, that's

the elephant in the room, somebody else is dealing with

the same issue. And I want you guys to know that

the world uses those things against you to hold you back,

give you fear, give you anxiety. But man, God is in this and He

wants to heal your heart, heal your anxiety, give you a

purpose. And we'll do that through the

Bible. And just going back to what

God's got for you. So we're going to continue our

series all over the room. So I want you guys to make

Pastor Sean feel welcome. Just give a big round of

applause if we continue the series.

That's job, Barry. Well, welcome to the 9:00.

Come on, somebody. You guys did it.

You got up early. Now, some of you aren't here

because you're gonna sleep in and go back to the 10:45.

But I love you guys. Give yourselves a hand for being

here early. Come on somebody, our setup

team, we didn't have to even change our setup time.

So I was proud of those guys. It's going to be awesome, man,

making room for people who are new to our church.

But I'll celebrate a few things this morning.

One, this last Sunday night, our youth group, Real life youth

went out to Sporting KC Check this out.

We had 46 total people come on out to the sporting game at

awesome sponsor somebody sponsors event.

This is like $3000 worth of tickets and food.

Come on somebody fed the Fed your changes for Jesus and give

it up for our youth group. Amen.

Fantastic crew great way to kick off the school year so say

school year it's gonna be awesome though today we're

diving into man totally different topic as we dive into

our 8th birthday. I wasn't anticipating this

concept and this topic today before we jump in over 8th

birthday bonfire this Tuesday night.

So if you are part of the dream team, if you give here, if

you're interested in serving or just start on the team, cuz you

might just jumped in thought, man, it's not for me yet.

I would encourage you to be there.

It's gonna be Tuesday night at 6:30.

We're doing a gross. Come on somebody.

It is a it is a deal like we have built 90 center blocks

above ground pig roast. We've got Lucas somewhere maybe

over here. This guy, this Victor volunteer

is going to stay up all night Monday night and he's going to

help all the way through to the party.

So it's going to be awesome. And we're going to cast some

vision at difference maker awards, share what's in the next

season, what God's doing really the next chapter we're going to

write, but it's going to be exciting.

So if you can please make it out.

Amen. And if you can also please sign

up because we're trying to make sure it's the right amount of

food. Amen.

So if 200 show up, it's like, oh, hey, you know, sorry, not

enough pig around here, but it's gonna be awesome.

So well, today we're diving in elf in the room.

There's probably no bigger elephant in the room, maybe

elephant in the country than what we saw this last week.

And it is just I don't know about anybody.

And we lose some sleep this last week in base table, late

scrolling, watching figure out what's going on, just seeing

things. Course, I'm talking about

Charlie Kirk and the situation. I'll just say this.

Today's message is about godly response to this OK, I want you

to think through what Jesus has for us, but I don't let you I I

lost sleep. I was scrolling late Wednesday,

way too late. And I was like, Lord, what do

you what, what's going on? What, what's response should we

have? What, what should we doing?

And it kind of puts all these questions right, like how, how

should politics and faith come together?

Or this question kept kind of mind.

Where's the humanity? Where's the humanity?

Like, like, like look at the posts in the comments, like this

is insane. Like the hate and the

demonization and the breakdown in this unity.

Like there's so much going on. It's not just out there.

It's actually in here too. Like as Christians, like there's

so much anger. And I'm not saying you shouldn't

be angry. Amen.

Because there's some righteous in the nation you see in this.

So, so it's bothering me. It's like, what is the response

as a Christian to Charlie Kirk's assassination to to his death?

Like how do we respond to the division to the hate, to the to

the politics, to everything around the situation?

What is the response to the Christian?

I think the question that most people are asking is not the

real question. Every question asking is what do

you think of Charlie Kirk? That has been the question that

has been the rhetoric. It is for the red this morning

during setup is it was the rhetoric.

What is this? What is this and everybody's

opinions on it. But I think a greater question

is what do people see about Jesus and us as respond to

Charlie Kirk? What does Jesus want us to do?

Are people seeing Christ in us through this?

Amen. And so today I'm gonna dive in.

I'm probably gonna step off some toes.

Amen. This is not, this is not a

political message, OK? This is not about left or right,

Amen. Amen.

I'm not, I'm not pushing politics on the stage.

OK? A matter of fact, today's

message isn't actually even about red, white or blue.

Today is gonna be thy Kingdom come.

Thy will be done. Like I'm gonna take it to a

whole nother level, like it's gonna be greater than what you

see. But I will say this, this is not

political message, but it's also not politically correct.

Like, I'm a preacher, dude. I'm not a politician, Amen?

Like I'm gonna say things that go against the culture, like

we're not called as Christians that fit in the culture.

Like I'm not gonna lose my salt and my life by trying to

navigate, not step on people's toes, Amen?

That's just who I am. That's what Christ has called us

to do. And so if we fit in, that's not

the goal. The goal is to stand out and to

stand up. And so that's what we're gonna

do today in the gathering. So it's gonna be good.

So you think about this situation.

What is our response? My prayer for you guys is that

we would think about what Jesus has for us, that that his

Kingdom come, that that we'd stop demonizing people who think

different than us today. Today's about unity.

Today's about forgiveness. Today's about Kingdom.

Today's about words that I haven't seen posted quite a bit.

I've been seeing this edge this, this come to peace with God.

Like what's God's direction in this?

And I've wrestled this all week. God, what would you have us to

do? How do we respond as a

Christian? Not just as a nationalist, not

even as a Christian nationalist, but as a Christian?

What you how their sponsor we have today.

And I came down to that Kingdom come that Jesus saw on the

throne. Amen.

So only give you guys 2 truths. And I'm going to break it down

and apply it about the direction we should go from here.

And #1 is this that Jesus is different type of king who

reigns and rules on a different type of Kingdom?

You're going to see this. And Jesus being crucified is

found in John chapter 18, this Republic.

John 18 · chapter mention

He looks at Jesus and he looks at the Jews and he says, take

him being Jesus said, take him yourselves and judge him by your

own law. He's saying just judge him.

Like, I don't think about this. I'm a Roman, you know, I'm over

the Romans. I have nothing to do about this

Jewish issue. And look at the Jews cried out.

They said we have no right to execute anyone.

They wanted Jesus dead. That was the whole point, he

said. They took the place to fulfill

that. Jesus had said this took place

to feel what Jesus said said about the kind of death he was

going to die. Jesus knew he was going to be

crucified and this was going to be the path he's going to walk

down. The pilot went back inside the

palace. He summoned Jesus and they asked

him, are you the what's it say? Are you the king of the Jews

like you use the king and look at Jesus response.

He says that your own idea Jesus asked or did others talk you

talk to you about me because I'm a Jew.

What he's saying is like how should I know what in the world

is going on the situation. I have no idea Jesus what he's

talking about said your own people and chief priest.

They hand you over to me. What is it that you have done?

Look at his response. Jesus said my yeah, my Kingdom,

my reign, my rule is what? What's it say?

Yeah, my rule is not this world, but my rule isn't divided by

political, geographic boundaries or elected officials.

My rule is over a Kingdom. Amen.

Amen. And if you're my servants, if it

were like if my Kingdom was earthly, my servants would fight

to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders.

If you think about that, if all you have in this world is an

earthly Kingdom, I guess you would fight.

Think about it. If your hope is in a party, if

your hope is in, well, we're a Republican nation or a Democrat

nation, and that's all it's in, you will fight because that's

all you have. But your hope is in Jesus, that

his Kingdom is not of this earth.

It's from what? Another place?

Amen. It's it's from heaven, it's from

a throne, it's from an outside boundary.

It's spiritual forces and powers.

It's way more spiritual than we can even think or imagine.

And so if you have a hard time sleeping, I think some people

just have been covered in fear like this.

This is the new standard. Like it's everywhere.

These the shootings. It's not just, it's not just

Charlie Kirk, right? We had the school in Jeffco.

We have all these different shootings and churches and

hospitals and it's schools. It's like the world's lost its

mind and and that's probably nothing new.

I mean, you think about all the martyrs and people who've been

killed, even the 1st century, even John the Baptist, through

all the disciples, there's been persecution of the things of

God. There's persecution, there's

uprisings. But here's the point.

No matter what happens in this world, Jesus is still king.

Jesus still sits on the throne. Amen.

There's no shooter, there's no agenda, there's no politician,

there's no rhetoric. There's no communist capitalist.

There's no blue, red, green. There's nothing that will stop

Jesus from being on the throne. I think some of us lost too much

sleep this week. Some of us may have said some

things on social media we shouldn't have said.

Some of us may have thought some things you shouldn't have

thought. Amen.

Now some of it is righteous. Amen.

There's some things that are right about it and things we

feel, but we can't forget that Jesus is in the throne, even

over ideologies and all the things we're seeing.

But I think this week rattled our hearts.

At least it did mine. I was like, wow, like the

world's on fire right now. Like if you didn't have the

opinion, you got opinion and it shook to the core.

It's revealing what our hope is in.

Like is, is there hope in a nation or is there hope in the

one who sets the boundaries of the nations?

Like is there hoping elected officials or in the one that

it's eternal like what passion do we have for the gospel?

Like we were fired up on this topic, but where's our passion

for Christ? Is it the one that holds the

keys to life and death? Like was Jesus shocked?

Like Jesus know what's going to happen as he lost his ability to

lead. No Jesus ways are higher and

Jesus in charge of our nation, Amen.

Jesus sets the boundaries. Jesus, when you think about

elections, we we vote, but Jesus puts who he wants in.

Amen. But whether you agree or

disagree, Jesus puts him in and he rises up.

Some people as judgment and some people as leaders.

It's just how God does things. But if you're struggling to

sleep at night, you gotta remember your king reigns.

Psalms 48 says this. It says in peace I lay down and

sleep for you alone. Lord make me dwell in what no

matter what happens and there's been major persecution,

especially in the Bible. If you read anything on first or

second Peter is major persecution.

We're an emperor is literally killing Christians.

The edict, the creed, the law is to kill Christians and they're

being they're being crucified and that's how Peter would die

like this isn't anything new. Amen To see this kind of

persecution against anybody but we rest in the Lord and so Jesus

rules and reigns a different type of Kingdom that our

response should be different than the rest of the world and

so encourage you the couple thoughts.

One is be angry and sin not be angry and sin not.

It's easy to sin when you're angry Amen.

It's easy to take it too far, but there is a righteous

ignation. What we saw on Wednesday was in

just Amen. It was horrific.

It was uncalled for. It was against the decrees, the

law, the against of God. It you should be mad about that,

Amen. And if you didn't read post and

you weren't upset, I don't know if you're human, Amen.

The comments and the things like there should be some justice in

your heart and some real passion.

It's revealed. But the reality is there's a

point where that ends. And it's found in Ephesians 426.

It says in your anger, do not sin.

It says do not the sun go down while you are still angry, bring

the KJV. It says don't let the sun go

down on your your wrath. And so there is a, a spiritual

healthy anger. Amen.

I, I, I, I personally find that real awesome because I was

really mad. I couldn't believe it.

I'm like, this is the, what the world's coming to.

I know it's like to hold a microphone, stand on stage, say

things. I'm not him.

But like, you see the shootings, you see the stuff I've told my

team, like, dude, we gotta do better.

You know, this world's so divided and there's, there's

just this righteousness to you. But the end of the day, you have

to put to bed your anger before you go to bed.

That's what this verse says. Don't let sun go down.

Don't let don't don't bring your anger into the next day.

Put to bed your anger before you go to bed.

And what's really unique about the scripture, you may not know

Paul is actually quoting or like mostly quoting, but referring to

Psalm 4/4. This is just read Psalm 4/4.

It's amazing. It says be angry, do not sin.

Sounds familiar, right? Just ponder in your own hearts

on your beds and be silent. Say LA this is what Paul is

referring to in Ephesians 426. We said don't be angry, don't be

angry and sin, but instead don't let the sun go down your wrath.

He's referring to this, this, this verse where we we go at

night, we lay in our beds and you know those thoughts you have

a night, they keep you up. There's thoughts you're upset,

you're trying to figure it out. I'm I'm scrolling.

You know, you know what in the world is going on with this and

you get to the point. You guys say, Lord, what is my

response? Meditate on what God has God,

I'm frustrated. God don't know what to do God,

how can this happen? Why is this happening?

Look at the division that hey, look at this like my church.

I got people that have somebody says something bad, man, like

lock their head, man, I'm sorry. I had these conversations.

I heard somebody laughing knows about that, right?

Like if somebody just push my buttons, this is it like I'm

ready to fight and I'm looking at this like God, what's our

response? What would you respond like?

I started thinking about John the Baptist and how Jesus didn't

even do anything. Like you knew it was going to

happen. He's like, Yep, bring your race,

maybe got arrested. Jesus didn't go take him out of

prison. John bows to beheaded.

His head was put on a platter. Legit crazy.

And Jesus kept doing ministry. Then I thought about every one

of the disciples that was martyred and what Jesus, where

was Jesus? It was like part of the story he

wrote. And that's the point of like,

right. So I'm not like locked off the

room, like Jesus, you're on the throne.

You know what's going on, Amen. And he says his words, forgive

them for the none of what they do like that was Jesus heart for

the lost, Amen. That that was what he was

thinking on the cross. And so I started thinking, Lord,

what do you have? But you have to get to the point

where you have to listen. The Holy Spirit.

Here's what we're not supposed to do.

It didn't say go to bed, score your phone, build yourself full

an ideology and then fall asleep.

Rule ticked off, wake up, turn on the preferred network of

whatever politically bought program you like and then get

fired up. Amen.

This is what it doesn't say. There's actually some amazing

videos that that people have put out.

There's a man who actually knew the shooter and he said, you

know, this, this social media that that we're filling

ourselves with so much is indoctrinating my culture and

it's killing us. I thought, man, that's a good

perspective. Like where have we made room for

God? Have we been still and know that

he is Lord? Have we meditated and wrestled

with the Lord and came to the point of silence and the Holy

Spirit has spoken to us? Are we acting out of a Holy

Spirit action? Are we presenting what the God

would have in this moment? Because what we say and what we

post says a lot about who we are because we're getting squeezed

right now. There's some pressure on us

right now, right? And what what's coming out of us

is, is this, is this the wholeness of God?

Is this the righteous of God? Is this the justice of God?

Is this from God? Or is this just me?

It's just now is my time to speak up and maybe say things

that don't look like Jesus. And so we can take it a little

too far. It says you're angry.

If you turn it into hate, it goes too far.

And this is what it says in first John 315.

You cross the line says anyone who hates a brother or sister is

a what? And you know, no murder has

eternal life residing in him. Like what makes us different

then all the people then the shooter, even in the, in the

people that we hate. If we have hate in our life,

like what makes us any different?

Like what makes us stand out? Like what, what, what shapes us.

And the Bible says even if we ideologically didn't like

somebody, we hate somebody, we're already committed murder.

We all know, like the all the politics and the things in front

of us that there's a lot of people being murdered in

people's hearts. Amen.

There's a lot of hate. That was the scariest thing of

this whole situation is the amount of hate that's behind all

this. It's incredible, but doesn't

come from Christ, that comes from the world.

There's no foundation. And so as a Christian, how do we

respond? Like, how are we to really

respond? Like what should we see?

And this is, I didn't see a lot of this.

I didn't see this, but our response, we want to do

something should be prayer and fasting.

That should be a response. Amen.

Didn't really get too excited on that one.

Prayer and fasting that I don't see as the natural inclination.

You know, we're like taking up arms.

It's like where's the prayer and the fasting and there's someone

to ask you a prayer and fast for you guys should do this this

week. Prayed fast for forgiveness, for

forgiveness because there's words been spoken.

There's things that happen, the things you saw.

There's people you talk to this week that ticked you off.

There's people I had conversations with from from

churches. People used to go our church

people different churches and they're not going back to church

this Sunday because of posts of people.

Not everybody goes to church as a Republican just saying it and

I'm I don't need to have just a Republican church.

Amen. Like my goal this season not to

filter the church and say only Republicans say that's but

that's what's being put out now. I think some pastors maybe

across some lines with some of their rhetoric, but pray for

forgiveness. You're gonna be allowed

forgiveness. Lord, forgive us for what we've

seen the last four days even in the church, like there's

mistakes have been made. Some people might take back some

words being spoken and look what Jesus said on the cross in Luke

2334. Jesus said, Father, forgive them

for they do not know what they are doing.

This isn't Jesus being crucified.

This is where he's hanging on the cross.

The Roman soldiers are crucified Him.

He's nailed to the cross and this is the heart of God as he's

being rejected by humanity and this prayer to forgive them

isn't just a prayer about the Roman centurion.

He's praying for all humanity. Forgive them in their ignorance.

Do not hold this sin of crucify me against them because we all

know God could wipe everybody out.

Amen. In his heart is we I love them.

They don't. They're doing in their

ignorance, in their in their lack of truth and knowledge of

me. Forgive them in the face of

cruelty and injustice, the heart of God is peeled back and

revealed with grace and mercy. And listen to this.

It wasn't based on somebody deserving it.

Amen. We none of us deserved it.

And Jesus, it just revealed as mercy and his grace and his love

for humanity. And so I'm waiting for the post

that says, Lord, forgive us, Lord forgive them, Amen.

I'm waiting for that post. I'm moving to the post that

brings us back-to-back to union under Christ, not not under like

this is my agenda and now I'm going to stick to my agenda.

And these aren't just nice words that are like putting stained

glass like you make, oh, that's nice.

Jesus did that. Like that's a high standard.

The first martyr in the Bible actually quoted this, the

stoning of Steven, Acts 759. It says while they were stoning

him, somebody say wow, wow, they were stoning him.

Have you ever read this and thought about while he was being

stoned? Like think about that.

Like you're legit. People are throwing stones and

your body is being broken, your bones are snapping, there's

blood. Your life is Emily over.

Like the next move is your last move.

And while this is happening in like the depravity of humanity

and the misunderstanding of God as a righteous man, Stephen was

he's praise. He says, Lord, Jesus received my

spirit. He fell to his knees and his

crying last breath cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin

against them. And when he said that he fell

asleep, he died. That's a whole nother level.

Amen. There's a whole nother level

like that, that that was the New Testament standard of

forgiveness. It wasn't like, oh, Jesus, stay

on the cross and that's good for him.

But now, man, this is my time. I do I want it was Lord forgive

them to know what they do. Do not hold the sin against them

and die. Like, wow.

It goes back to how do we treat people?

Amen. How do we love somebody who

believes different than us and maybe even hates us?

Like how do we love somebody like that?

This person, Steven, loved him to death.

Jesus loved them to death. That was his first response to

injustice was forgiveness. So pray and fast for

forgiveness. Amen.

Amen. That'd be countercultural.

That'd be countercultural. I love you.

I've been praying for you. I forgive you.

I don't agree with you. I think it's dumb, but I love

you. Amen.

I've been praying for unity. I'm not harboring aggression or

hates right now. There's a lot of that, right?

I mean, I feel like you could put some red and blue shirts on.

You might have yourself a war, praying fast for not just

forgiveness, but for unity. Pray for unity.

You know, the question has been asked, what do you, what do you

think of Charlie Kirk? You know what, what do you stand

for? And obviously he, he preached

Jesus, he loved Jesus. He said things that were counter

cultural about Jesus, like not about Jesus, but to the culture

about Jesus. That dude knew some Bible, Amen.

I'm not saying he knew the Bible all the way through that.

I do do some Bible. And he stepped into the fray.

He stepped into the places that most people are going to step

into. And whether you agree with this

politic or you agree with all the different pieces, does it

really matter? Because the New Testament, when

Paul said, hey, something preached name of Jesus, Thank

God if something mentioned name of Jesus, it'll matter if

they're using it wrong. Paul said, thank you, Jesus.

He said name of Jesus, Amen. And so I see somebody that's

standing up for truth that that's speaking what's in his

heart, his mind, and anybody can do that.

You have the freedom to do that in this country.

Amen. We all have the freedom to

speak. We want to speak, but but to but

to think what what should be unified around?

Like did it matter his political position?

Like does it matter if you want to martyr him or not?

Does it really matter? Like there's a give you a war on

that doesn't matter that he was pro Trump and and and pushed

through the agenda and stood for these kind of politics.

Does it matter? Like listen to this.

Unity is greater than uniformity.

Unity is greater than uniformity.

Like, where did we get the place in our country and as Christians

that we can't disagree on lesser issues?

Where, where, where do we get that point?

But we have to hate somebody because they think different

than us. Like, that's not an entire right

of this country. They all think the same way,

man. But where do you as Christians,

like, is our faith so small, maybe so shallow that every must

agree with us so we have personal validation?

Do we really need people to agree across the aisles?

No, no, we don't. Or our feelings so important

that no one can disagree with them.

If you don't disagree with me, we're no longer want you're

canceled, right. I mean, I just I don't get it.

Like I've talked to some people this week.

I unfollowed my first person, right?

Never unfollowed. Somebody had asked my spouse had

that conversation. I gotta get with this ideology.

I can't be these people. Can I just tell you those are

the people who are trying to reach.

Amen. And so if why would you cancel

the mission? Because that's what's happening.

Look, we don't agree on nationalistic level.

And so I'm no longer pro you. I'm cancelling.

I don't hear anymore. And as a pastor, I have a

problem with that. I've been told by people, you

better cancel me because I'm gonna light you up.

And I'm like, hey, listen, dude, I don't run for my problems.

I'm a big boy like you don't keep your friends close your

image closer. Come on, somebody right, like I

got to know what the other side's thinking a little bit.

You know, like I'm not I'm not a small minded.

Like I'm not going to push you away as much as you maybe hate

what I say, I'm not going to hate you back.

Amen. And there's just this propaganda

like get rid of these people, hate these people, the ideology

to you'd even get to the point of wanting to kill these people.

Like this is the problem. The problem.

The Bible is the world, the flesh and the sin that that's

that's that's the enemy. Say themself, Amen.

And then we demonize people that look different than us and think

different than us. And I'm not saying they're right

on the positions, Amen, But I'm saying is we love them in

Christ. Jesus didn't ask us to be

uniformed. He asked for unity about

uniformity. There's no one to bobble.

You see Jesus have a political post, a political comment, his

little comment like this pay what Caesar Caesar's do.

That means be subject to the government you live in.

That's what he says that in Romans that we be subject to the

leaders that puts in place because who put the leader in

place? God did.

If you want a different to be different.

And so we're subject and in humility we obey, we follow, but

we follow Christ, Amen. That was, there was no other

spot where he said, OK, well, it doesn't look this way then take

up arms. Jesus wasn't a political

revolutionary, Amen. He didn't come in and rescue any

of that stuff. He didn't have any political

agenda because he wasn't from this politic use from earth or

from heaven. I mean, he had a different

economy. He had a different politic

completely. Jesus was political because he

had a Kingdom. But now what he on earth, Amen.

You know, Jesus nowhere asked us to vote the same that you're

entitled, right? As an American, you should use

it every time. Midterm elections, no aim ends

on that one. All three of you that went to

the polls, right? You get all matters right.

Like be passionate about the politics.

But we don't die on the hill of the Capitol Hill.

We die on the hill of Calvary. It's a different level.

Jesus didn't ask us. We uniformed around of votes and

ideologies and political parties and persons and policies.

He asked to be unified around Christ, something greater.

Amen. And John 17.

This we prayed for. This is as he's anticipating his

death. It's my prayer is that not for

them alone somebody's disciples who wasn't know him in that

time, but they also for those who will believe that's us in

the future. So Jesus praying for us.

They'll believe in me through their message.

Verse 21 it says that all of them may be what maybe one they

were unified together in Christ like OK, you may have different

opinions. Hey, you have the right to be

wrong. Amen.

You can, but we have different opinions, but we're unified

under Christ. There's something greater than

what we see in front of us. Even this land.

It says Father, just as we are, you are in me and I'm in you.

That's a deep relationship. May this also be in us so that

the world is the purpose may believe that you have sent me.

They'll be so unified around Christ.

We love each other. Even those are differences that

they would see Christ in US. Well, I can't believe you.

You let that person, your church, I can't believe you care

about that person. I can believe you're gave that

person. I can't believe you.

You, you united together. Why do something greater?

There's a greater purpose. I've given them the glory that

they gave me, that they may be one as what's it say?

We are one. So, so, so we're united under

Christ at the same level that Jesus is united to this Father.

That's a high calling, Amen. There's so much division.

There's aisles, political aisles in the church that there's

unspoken aisles of race in churches.

There's each social economic aisles in churches, but we need

tear down the aisles because we're all under Christ, Amen.

This is this is where he asked us to go.

We're united. Just the thing about the

relationship about intimate the Father and Son, where that's

intimate we should be with each other.

I've given the glory that they gave me that they may be one as

we are one in them and you and me, so that they may be brought

to complete unity. Only through submission in

Christ do we actually mature. If we if we stop following

Christ because we're following things, the world, our spiritual

growth dies. Verse 23 and I and them and you

and me said they may be brought into complete unity that the

world may know that you sent me and have loved them even as you

have loved me. This came all in baby.

But there's unity in Christ, like the gospel advances through

unity, advances through unity. Like if we're not unified under

Christ, if we'd have forgiveness under Christ, prayer under

Christ, love under Christ. If we can't love somebody who's

different than us and welcome them in, like, do you know

Jesus? Yeah.

Well, I, I'd vote this way. I think this way.

OK. Like, I disagree personally, but

I love you. Amen.

Can we get past that? Like they're human people who

need Jesus. The mission wasn't to have

country, those full of people that I thought just looked like

Jesus, like just play this out is the resolve in this time.

So you know what more lost people come to Christ.

If we were all thought that we a way of a Democrat or Republican,

would the mission really move? It's crazy like the mission

hasn't changed. Amen.

But it's like, hey, if this happened, it's it's like our our

comfort's being stripped a way. Life is being challenged.

But the end of the day, the mission is the mission.

Amen. And very much so.

I think there's so much hate across the table that the church

itself is going to lose. It's losing ground, it's losing

saltiness, it's losing power. There's whole denominations that

have unified other things in the world.

It wasn't necessarily they were unifying around a ticket or a

party, but they, they, they, they unified around lesser

things like like, let's all get along, you know, whether it's

sexuality or all these different things.

And they unified fastest dying denomination in the United

States, the samples of Christ. Do you unify around the mission?

Do you unify around the gospel, you know, unified around

idealism and ideology of the world like we unify around

Christ. That's what the power is, Amen.

The power is in the gospel. Not not enough being uniformly

put together like it's in the gospel, the union, Christ, the

power of salvation. And so I think about the church

like it's got to get past politics.

Not to say you don't vote. It's not that you don't passion.

It's not to say you get fired up every now and then.

It's not to say you don't, you don't campaign and think this

way, but to hate somebody, but to post what we posted or what

they posted, but to live in that world, We've lost our salt in

this. So division.

The church undermines the gospel and what the world needs now,

which I kind of want to sing a song, Come on, somebody.

I knew somebody would do it. I wish I could sing right now.

It'd be so good. But the world needs now is a

unified church. It needs Christians to unify

around forgiveness, around prayer, around outreach, around

love. They're just doing the things we

should do without throwing stones, without losing our

ability to witness. I mean, this is so easy to to to

hate or to word vomit or to stay blatant and put your mind out on

social media and really not help anybody.

Just make it clear where you stand.

Hey, if you don't like my post, unfollow me.

That's not the mission of Christ.

There would not be a church if I said everything I thought.

I'm just telling you, man. Like, no, I don't agree with

myself sometimes, you know, and we get fired up.

Then we we learn, oh, that was so stupid.

Like I've been played that that war was started and bought by

the same system. Like there's way more things

that are happening. So we didn't let politics or

personalities divide us. We rallied under a name.

His name is Jesus. I'll leave with this verse.

You're like, what? What's next for our country?

Where do we go from here? There is a prescription, there

is a verse. There is a truth in the Bible

that tells us what to do next. And it's found in Second

Chronicles 714. It's a famous passage.

So if my people, God fears who called by my name, well, what's

it say? Well, they humble themselves and

pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.

Then you will hear from heaven. I'll forgive their sin.

And will what heal their land? You.

Sometimes you feel helpless, like there's nothing I can do

and this is just country. Oh, it's crazy.

You can humble yourself and pray.

Amen. That the power of God is

released when people hit on their knees.

The power of God's released in humility.

The power of God's released in great faith so you can do

something. It doesn't matter if you can't

leave home or you're not on the political spotlight, you make a

difference, Amen? And we could unify as a country,

as people of prayer, as Christians and get our needs

that God forgive us for these last four days.

Forgive the shooter, forgive the ideology wars and help us.

We need you. We don't need a party, we need

Jesus. Amen.

Now let's say I'm giving up on a vote, but we need you.

Lord, you heal our land. You forgive us, and God forgive

me or I've sinned because there's things in my heart, man,

if you knew, look nothing like Jesus.

And so God forgive. This is where it starts, Amen.

Revival starts on your knees, starts in place of prayer.

If you've not prayed yet, if you're not forgiven yet, you've

not humbled yourself yet, you've not stayed at bed and meditated

on the things of God and been silent, heard from the Holy

Spirit, Today's the day. Today, right now is the day that

we get right with God because this is his nation and He can do

what He wants to. And I don't like everything I

see, but we need Jesus, Amen. And so, Father, we come before

you, got to ask that we humble ourselves, got to heal our

nation, got to pray in a room. God birth.

There's division, a country full of hate, whether we're divided

by political lines, the ideologies and wars and words.

And it's being exacerbated God, that you would do your best work

right now and you would use us as Jesus followers to model

what's like to live in persecution, to live in

division, to be hated or divided.

And they use the voice of unity even to those we thought

wouldn't say things that he said this week.

God forgive us what we posted for some of us forgive some hate

in our heart. God, let's be angry and sin not.

Maybe you're Jesus followed today and it's just being real

for you that God may be speaking to you that today's day you

humble yourself, say, Lord, I've I've thought everything but you

on this one, but today I'm going to humble myself.

God, heal our land. That's your cry of your heart

today. We just put your hands out in

front of you and say, God all received from you today.

God, don't hear from you today. God, show me your way.

I've been fired up, got my emotions been high.

God, teach me to sleep in peace because you reign on the throne.

God teach me my economy is different than your economy,

that your kingdoms are from my Kingdom, that my politics,

although I'm passionate about it, are not as great as the

politics of heaven. It is a greater thing that

you're up to then. It's the redemption of mankind.

Help me not lose my saltiness because I doubled the wrong hill

this week can help me to love people that look unlovable, that

maybe don't even like my opinions because you're up to

something greater. God, heal our land today and

hold myself today. Your spirits speak to me again.

I'll need other voices. I don't need other opinions.

Can I stand on your scripture and your truth?

I'll pray for somebody in this house today may recognize this

gospel may be different than you've ever heard.

There's a there's a God of the universe that went to the cross

and said forgive them for they know not what they do.

And maybe say you recognize you're that ignorant person,

right? You're the person you thought

you had it figured out. You had lesser gods, and today

you recognize that there's a God in the universe that loves you

in spite of your wrongdoing. And as we were our worst, God's

best. And this grace of God is drawn

you to himself through his Holy Spirit.

And you recognize today that you are a Sinner and your Savior,

that this week shows some things in your life that you're not

proud of. It's the things in your life

that you need to get forgiveness for.

And today you recognize that maybe you need Jesus.

Today the Bible says you call on Jesus.

Doesn't matter what your stance is on politics or your past or

what you did last night. It matters you believe that

Jesus died on a cross for your sins and rose again.

And today if you're ready to humble yourself and say, God

forgive me. He will not just heal a nation,

He will heal you. And so if you need Christ today,

let me be looking around. I'm not going to make it.

We're beauty Christ, if you put your hand on his place, I need

Jesus. But the power of gospel came

through this message in my life today.

I need relation to Christ today. That's you.

You just pray in his prayer and say, Father God, thanks so much

for loving me. God, in the midst of all this

chaos. God, you see me.

He died for me on that cross. You can pray for on that cross

that I would be forgiven, that you wouldn't hold this sin

against me, God. And so I cry out to you, God, I

need you. I'll never leave the food of

this cross. I'm saved, God, because of your

work. So thank you for your grace,

God. Thank you for your mercy, God,

part of your mission. God, thank you for healing me

today. And I pray that in Jesus name

and the church said Amen. Give it up for Jesus.

Give some glory to God today. Amen.

And what a just a powerful and timely word that that unity, our

unity is living proof of a living God.

And he's here and he's moving and he's writing new stories

every day. And some of you are writing that

new story, that new chapter today.

And you accepted that prayer or that you accepted Jesus and

prayed that prayer. We are so excited for you as you

take this first step with Jesus this week.

We would love to help you. We would love to resource you as

you start this journey. You can grab that connection

card that's on your seat, fill out your information and make

sure and check that box though that says I committed my life to

Jesus. And you can drop that in the

giving buckets here in just a few minutes.

But by doing that just allows us to walk along.

I do to drop you a free book in the mail this week.

It's a short read. It's called begin, but it really

will help you as you take this first step with Jesus this week.

Also, if you're in the house and you prayed that prayer, in the

back of the worship center there is a table with some red bags.

Please grab one of those as well inside the Bible just for you

and a list of some other resources that we know will help

you this week. And once again, we are so

excited for you today. And hey, if you are newer with

us in the house today, thank you so much for choosing to spend

your day here with us. Can we just give everybody

that's new a round of applause today?

We love that you're here. We love that you're spending

today with us. Thank you so much for being

here. We'd love to just see you back

here next Sunday. Also, if you could grab that

same card, fill out your information and check that box

that says first time here. You can actually take that to

the new here booth as you exit the worship center, just to your

right, there's a booth there. You can turn that in.

We have a free gift. We would love to get to you.

Just our way of saying thank you.

And once again, we would love to see you next week.

And I just want to take a minute and just celebrate all that God

has done and is doing to your giving here.

So a real life church over the past eight years, because of

your faithful giving, we've spread the gospel.

We've seen week after week lives being transformed and changed.

And we get to celebrate that big next week with baptisms.

So far this year, we've had 21 people get baptized.

We had three more people sign up last week.

And don't miss this. Every time somebody says yes to

Jesus, every time somebody says yes to going public with their

faith of baptism, it's a picture of resurrection.

It's a picture of freedom. It's a picture of of healing.

And so if that's you and you're ready to take that step, that

next step and go public with your faith, we would love to

celebrate you next week at baptisms.

You can grab that card, fill it out, your information there.

You can also just fill it out. Even if you have questions, I'd

love to reach out and just answer those.

But you can drop those in the giving buckets here in just a

few minutes. We'd love to celebrate with you.

But when you give here, you are not just giving to a church, but

you are giving through a church. You are investing in real

people. You have real life change, real

surrender, real freedom that's only found in Jesus.

And so I invite you, I encourage you if you call real life home

to take part in that. You can check out the screen.

You can text to give. You can head on over to our

website reallifechurchkc.com/give.

There's a giving box in the back.

The buckets are going to pass here in just a few minutes as

well. And if you or your family find

yourself in immediate need this week, food, clothing, shelter,

would you please reach into the buckets as they pass here in

just a minute and grab out any loose.

We really, truly do want to be a blessing to you and your family.

Man, what a good message. You get to the end.

Of the Bible you go to. Revelation And one of the last

things you read about is the tree of life and the leaves that

heal the nations. And so I think the focus on

Jesus and what Pastor Sean said was so important.

So, man, if you're thankful for God and the healing that he

brings to our country and our people and our church, can we

just give it up for God one more time, man, Amen.

Hey. Before we got here, just one.

Last reminder, man, we are getting ready for our 8th

birthday party on the 21st. So mark that down.

And then this Tuesday, we'd love for you guys to come and hang

out with us and, and, and dream big with us at this dream team

party. Whole pig roast.

I've never been to one. I've been to redneck my whole

life, but I've never got to do one of these so I'm excited.

You're going to have s'mores yard games, bonfires.

So come hang out with us. If even if you're not part of

the dream team, come hang out. We'd love to get you in there

and and just be a part So 63630 to 8 this Tuesday.

So if you guys need prayer for any reason, we would love to

pray with you. Whether it's individuals or as

families, either one doesn't matter.

Can't wait to see you guys again back next week.

You guys did a great job at 9:00 or 10:45.

And as always, remember, whoever finds Jesus discovers real life

and purpose. This is the end of this podcast.

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